Loving what I do; Doing what I love

fran --

[alimastudies]

“Don’t study because you need to. Study because knowledge is power. Study because they can never take it away from you. Study because you want to know more. Study because it enhances you. Study because it grows you.”

— unknown

[kushandwizdom]

“Nothing would mean anything if I didn’t live a life of use to others.”

— Angelina Jolie

[kushandwizdom]

“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

— Haruki Murakami

[sosuperawesome]

Dina Belenko on Instagram

Follow So Super Awesome on Instagram

[kushandwizdom]

“A mistake repeated more than once is a decision.”

— Paulo Coelho

[kushandwizdom]

“people think happiness is about gaining something, but it’s not. it’s all about getting rid of the darkness you accumulate.”

— Carolyn Crane

[kushandwizdom]

“Your solution is rarely someone else.”

— Yrsa Daley-Ward

[sosuperawesome]

Ceramic Cups, Wall Hangings and Jewelry, by Jasmin Blanc on Etsy

See our ‘ceramics’ tag

[sosuperawesome]

Rings by Caysie van Bebber, on Etsy

See our ‘rings’ tag

[soleildiana]

3 ways to read actively

so, this is my first real how-to-study post, so bear with me.

(1) summarize as you go

basically, textbook notes. while reading, i prefer not to highlight directly on the book regardless if i can or cannot write on it. (i rent some of my textbooks.) when writing your notes, make sure not to copy directly, since you’re not going to remember much afterwards. instead, read a paragraph and commit to memory, then write it in your own words in your notes.

another way to do this would be to use the margins if you can. for every paragraph, write a quick summary, or the key points, that can fit in the margins of your book.

(2)  mind maps

i didn’t really like this method at first, but i tried to modify it to include more active reading, and i realized its helpfulness lately and have been doing it a lot for the past month or so.

first of all, read your book/text/whatever. highlight or write in the margins. it doesn’t matter, as long as it retains in your brain, or at least the most vital concepts.

next, close your book and keep it across the room, so you’re not tempted to cheat. we’re lazy people. admit it.

write the topic in the middle of your paper. make sure your paper is either gridded or blank, because lined isn’t going to help with the flow of your thoughts. then, add your headers and subheaders and write down as many concepts and facts as you remember.

when you’re done with that, grab your book and a different-colored pen and write down the other key things you missed. basically, that’s it, and now you have a reference in the future so you know what you don’t know / don’t master! you can keep on redoing this until you no longer have two colors on your paper.

(3) draw

YES, I’M NOT KIDDING. when making your study notes, draw and visualize the concepts that you learn, or the mnemonics that you memorize. i do this for memorization-heavy tests and subjects that require us to enumerate a lot of facts. for example, i was studying gateway drugs the other day, and our teacher gave us a list of reasons behind smoking, such as peer pressure, parental influence, ads, stress relief, and the like. it was 8 words, and as an acronym it was PPASSWTR, which i couldn’t really twist around to form a word, so i created a mnemonic.

(tip: if you’re stuck on making a mnemonic, use mnemonicgenerator.com. you’re welcome.)

here’s the mnemonic. the funnier, the more visual, the better! Popeye Polished Armored Spatulas So Wieners Tossed Raisins. so, i drew it, and it turned out as such a funny drawing :”) but it doesn’t matter since afterwards i was able to remember the mnemonic and therefore the complete list!

 (don’t study hard; study well)

so basically, that’s it for my first post, hope you like it! all the love, rei :”)

[kushandwizdom]

When you’re lying in bed with your significant other and you find yourself reflecting on how rare and perfect your bond is, and how much bullshit you had to endure with people beforehand which thankfully lead you both to cross paths and now you’re just lying there in this state of tranquility and you realise “this is it, this is literally how I want to spend the rest of my days”…

- Meggan Roxanne

[samsstudygram]

college study tips that actually help

put your phone on silent and put it across the room

listen to classical/soundtrack music without lyrics

make index cards for important vocab

wear pajamas

make diagrams and pictures. they don’t have to look pretty, as long as you understand it

make timelines for historical events

have a light snack

drink coffee or tea to keep you going

take a break every hour or so

have one pencil/black pen and one colored pen or highlighter. anything more will just distract you. the aesthetics aren’t important, your knowledge is

don’t be afraid to email/message your teacher or a classmate if you don’t understand something. the last thing you want to do is learn the incorrect information

know that sleep and health is more important than your grade. you cannot perform as well on a test if you are tired or sick. take care of yourself

it’s not a race. it’s not about who can learn something in the quickest time, it’s about learning

take a deep breath 

prioritize your homework by how long it will take you and when it’s due

plan some you time in between studying and school

if you’re mentally exhausted, set a timer for 30 minutes and take a nap. any longer and you’ll wake up even more tired

don’t understand something? that’s perfectly fine, don’t stress over it. ask for help rather than complaining

have a goal in mind and write them down. say things like “i am getting an education so i can get the job of my dreams. the life that i want. the happiness that i deserve”

be thankful. it is a privilege that you get to go to school and get an education. 

you got this.

[teennick]

Attempting to cook…

[sosuperawesome]

caseyligon on Society6

• So Super Awesome is also on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest •

[fcyma]

Please Hear What I'm Not Saying  Don't be fooled by me. Don't be fooled by the face I wear for I wear a mask, a thousand masks, masks that I'm afraid to take off, and none of them is me. Pretending is an art that's second nature with me, but don't be fooled, for God's sake don't be fooled. I give you the impression that I'm secure, that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without, that confidence is my name and coolness my game, that the water's calm and I'm in command and that I need no one, but don't believe me. My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask, ever-varying and ever-concealing. Beneath lies no complacence. Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness. But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it. I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed. That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind, a nonchalant sophisticated facade, to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows. But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only hope, and I know it. That is, if it's followed by acceptance, if it's followed by love. It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself, from my own self-built prison walls, from the barriers I so painstakingly erect. It's the only thing that will assure me of what I can't assure myself, that I'm really worth something. But I don't tell you this. I don't dare to, I'm afraid to. I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance, will not be followed by love. I'm afraid you'll think less of me, that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me. I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing and that you will see this and reject me. So I play my game, my desperate pretending game, with a facade of assurance without and a trembling child within. So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks, and my life becomes a front. I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface talk. I tell you everything that's really nothing, and nothing of what's everything, of what's crying within me. So when I'm going through my routine do not be fooled by what I'm saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying, what I'd like to be able to say, what for survival I need to say, but what I can't say. I don't like hiding. I don't like playing superficial phony games. I want to stop playing them. I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me but you've got to help me. You've got to hold out your hand even when that's the last thing I seem to want. Only you can wipe away from my eyes the blank stare of the breathing dead. Only you can call me into aliveness. Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging, each time you try to understand because you really care, my heart begins to grow wings-- very small wings, very feeble wings, but wings! With your power to touch me into feeling you can breathe life into me. I want you to know that. I want you to know how important you are to me, how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God creator-- of the person that is me if you choose to. You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble, you alone can remove my mask, you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic, from my lonely prison, if you choose to. Please choose to. Do not pass me by. It will not be easy for you. A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls. The nearer you approach to me the blinder I may strike back. It's irrational, but despite what the books say about man often I am irrational. I fight against the very thing I cry out for. But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls and in this lies my hope. Please try to beat down those walls with firm hands but with gentle hands for a child is very sensitive. Who am I, you may wonder? I am someone you know very well. For I am every man you meet and I am every woman you meet.

Charles C. Finn September 1966

[fcyma]

What is the cause of your depression? Illness? Misfortune? All kinds of causes. Specific reasons; and in general my abhorrence and contempt for the human condition.

Petrarch

[fcyma]

but strangely enough, I feed upon tears and pain with a kind of atrocious black satisfaction that I am unwilling to be torn from them

Petrarch